So after a couple of days cursing and moaning at my machine I have re-installed EVE, re-installed windows, updated drivers and the like, yet I still crash on about 5% of the gates. For example, going from Otou to Hek crashed my EVE client 100% of the time. Not all gates, and it seems not all players, but something is totally broken. With the game now completely broken for large numbers of players, we all look to CCP for answers. CCP Habakuk | EVE Quality Assurance places a nice post on the issues thread saying assuring us that 1. The know what the problem is and 2. Fix almost ready. But then, 36 hours later, bug is still there and no more information is forthcoming. I know that it is the weekend and all but, geez get your act together and talk to us.
Of course this is all familiar. A couple of years ago during the Apocrypha expansion CCP started monkeying about with cloaking and module activation. They broke the whole MWD-Cloak warp trick eliciting huge tears from the player base. They undid the changes and broke gates. Basically, everyone was disconnecting every three or four gates. Made roams very very frustrating. It took them days to fix :(
So CCP, get your act together. You are right now competing with that Star Wars game which has suffered from some serious bugs. Fix your stuff, or at least talk to your players about progress on a solution. Bugs happen, it is how you deal with them that matters.
Edit: New post from CCP https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=729810#post729810. Looks like the fix will go in on tuesday. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Friday, January 27, 2012
Taranis 3.1 / 3.2
When doing solo PVP in EVE you have to be willing to die.... a lot.
So fitting up a new Taranis I hit Amamake again looking for a fight. As before I was in a armour repping, afterburner fit, neutron blaster fit, ecm drone Taranis. Within a mine or two I was engaged with an incursis near the sun. Unfortunately he was kiting me. Try as I might I couldn't get withing 10km to put an overheated scram on his MWD. All the while his rail-guns were pounding me. After about a minute my ECM drones must have worked since he lost point, and I decided to give up and warp off.
Not much to say here except I need to get better and forcing the fight to be within scram range. Loosing a t2 frigate to a t1 frigate would have been embarrassing. I am not sure if my choice to fit ECM drones saved me, or cost me a kill. With ECM drones I was able to break his point and escape, however combat drones would have given me some DPS against him at range. I suspect however that if combat drones were hurting him he would have been able to simply warp off at will.
Since I was kited once, why not try again.
An hour later, same place I engaged a Scythe Fleet Issue. I believe this ship is the single least flown ship in the game according to CCP. And like the incursis I was engaged at range :(. Since he was around 40km from me I aligned and prepared to warp. However I lingered to see exactly what he would do. I figured that as long as he was over 30 km from me I was safe. He pointed me at around 34km. Ooops. I don't know if it was some serious faction point or an off-grid boosting loki, but I knew I was screwed.
I tried the same tactic as with the incursis. Off went my drones to attempt to jam him. No luck. Soon he was joined by a hurricane and a Talos. The chase did last for a bit as they couldn't quite hit me for full damage. However every once in a while the Talos ripped me a new one and, never succeeding in jamming the Skyth, I died.
2012.01.23 05:01:00
Victim: Toterra
Corp: Walking Dead Pilots
Alliance: Unknown
Faction: Unknown
Destroyed: Taranis
System: Amamake
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 2725
Involved parties:
Name: Liang Nuren (laid the final blow)
Security: -10.00
Corp: Heretic Army
Alliance: Heretic Nation
Faction: None
Ship: Talos
Weapon: Ion Blaster Cannon II
Damage Done: 2005
Name: Az Tek
Security: -10.00
Corp: Heretic University
Alliance: Heretic Nation
Faction: None
Ship: Scythe Fleet Issue
Weapon: 720mm 'Scout' Artillery I
Damage Done: 720
Name: tiberiusric
Security: -10.00
Corp: Comply Or Die
Alliance: Shit.Happens
Faction: None
Ship: Hurricane
Weapon: 425mm AutoCannon II
Damage Done: 0
Destroyed items:
Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 160
Damage Control II
Light Neutron Blaster II, Qty: 2
Small Ancillary Current Router I, Qty: 2
Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 260 (Cargo)
Dropped items:
1MN Afterburner II
Small Diminishing Power System Drain I
Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 80
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Small Armor Repairer II
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
X5 Prototype Engine Enervator
Null S, Qty: 800 (Cargo)
Light Neutron Blaster II
Both of these fights resulted in the same lesson. I need to engage at 0. If I can't do that I had better gtfo.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
The Problem With the CSM TL;DR Version
After reading the absurd, opportunistic, new player unfriendly stuff in the latest CSM minutes I started writing a massive wall of text picking apart the CSM and trying to explain it. In the end I just gave up the wall of text and am just going to publish the summary.
TL;DR:
Treating the CSM as a focus group for EVE players is as valid as treating the US Senate as a focus group for Americans.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Taranis 2.2
So after surviving my initial encounter and getting my first Taranis kill with a Taranis, I think I have mastered this ship. Perhaps not. I recently started a new corp (I will undoubtedly blog about that later) and I took one of my new corpmates on a little roam though low-sec. I was in my shiny Taranis, my mate was in a Retribution. The Retribution is a really awesome assault ship with one teeny tiny problem... only one midslot. IOW it can fit a propulsion mod but no tackle :(.
The Hunt
We first made our way on to Tama. This is a hotbed of faction war between Caldari and Gallente. I managed to d-scan down a republic fleet firetail, but it was sitting in a minor compound. Oddly minor compounds only allow frigates and destroyers... T2 frigates can not enter :(.
On we went looking for targets. Eventually we ended up Dal, one jump out of Amamake. I managed to tackle a Vexor and we started giving it hell. My shields and armour were obliterated, however once I set into an orbit I was tanking it okay. It's shields dropped quickly and we were slowly chipping away at the armour. I checked the drones and he had loaded up mostly Ogre IIs which couldn't hit me despite being webbed. It was very very slowly loosing armour.
Then disaster struck. I had though I had turned off overheating my afterburner... but it stayed on for the third cycle. Once completed it had burnt out and my velocity went from 500 m/s to 150 m/s... and then an Ogre got a 'wrecking shot!'. Structure didn't last long after that. My fellow corp-mate in a retribution did not quite get his ship out.
2012.01.15 06:41:00
Victim: Toterra
Corp: Walking Dead Pilots
Alliance: None
Faction: None
Destroyed: Taranis
System: Dal
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 2444
Involved parties:
Name: Igo Heeled44 (laid the final blow)
Security: 3.2
Corp: Ascetic Virtues
Alliance: None
Faction: Amarr Empire
Ship: Vexor
Weapon: 200mm AutoCannon II
Damage Done: 2444
Destroyed items:
Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 114
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
X5 Prototype Engine Enervator
Light Neutron Blaster II, Qty: 2
Small Ancillary Current Router I, Qty: 2
Hobgoblin II (Cargo)
Dropped items:
1MN Afterburner II
Small Diminishing Power System Drain I
Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 57
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
Small Armor Repairer II
Damage Control II
Light Neutron Blaster II
Null S, Qty: 500 (Cargo)
Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 4953 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 715 (Cargo)
Hobgoblin II (Cargo)
Afterthoughts
I hate loosing a ship due to stupidity. I don't know whether I could have tanked the vexor if my ab wasn't overloaded.... but burning out was just fail. I will be so happy once CCP fixes the overload interface so that it is less prone to mistakes. As far as the Taranis is concerned the ship performed beautifully. The combination of small sig radius, high speed, and high dps is a winner.
The Hunt
We first made our way on to Tama. This is a hotbed of faction war between Caldari and Gallente. I managed to d-scan down a republic fleet firetail, but it was sitting in a minor compound. Oddly minor compounds only allow frigates and destroyers... T2 frigates can not enter :(.
On we went looking for targets. Eventually we ended up Dal, one jump out of Amamake. I managed to tackle a Vexor and we started giving it hell. My shields and armour were obliterated, however once I set into an orbit I was tanking it okay. It's shields dropped quickly and we were slowly chipping away at the armour. I checked the drones and he had loaded up mostly Ogre IIs which couldn't hit me despite being webbed. It was very very slowly loosing armour.
Then disaster struck. I had though I had turned off overheating my afterburner... but it stayed on for the third cycle. Once completed it had burnt out and my velocity went from 500 m/s to 150 m/s... and then an Ogre got a 'wrecking shot!'. Structure didn't last long after that. My fellow corp-mate in a retribution did not quite get his ship out.
2012.01.15 06:41:00
Victim: Toterra
Corp: Walking Dead Pilots
Alliance: None
Faction: None
Destroyed: Taranis
System: Dal
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 2444
Involved parties:
Name: Igo Heeled44 (laid the final blow)
Security: 3.2
Corp: Ascetic Virtues
Alliance: None
Faction: Amarr Empire
Ship: Vexor
Weapon: 200mm AutoCannon II
Damage Done: 2444
Destroyed items:
Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 114
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
X5 Prototype Engine Enervator
Light Neutron Blaster II, Qty: 2
Small Ancillary Current Router I, Qty: 2
Hobgoblin II (Cargo)
Dropped items:
1MN Afterburner II
Small Diminishing Power System Drain I
Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 57
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
Small Armor Repairer II
Damage Control II
Light Neutron Blaster II
Null S, Qty: 500 (Cargo)
Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 4953 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 715 (Cargo)
Hobgoblin II (Cargo)
Afterthoughts
I hate loosing a ship due to stupidity. I don't know whether I could have tanked the vexor if my ab wasn't overloaded.... but burning out was just fail. I will be so happy once CCP fixes the overload interface so that it is less prone to mistakes. As far as the Taranis is concerned the ship performed beautifully. The combination of small sig radius, high speed, and high dps is a winner.
Monday, January 16, 2012
The Current Sad State of EVE-Online Noob PvP Training - Part 3 - OUCH
Open Unversity of Celestial Hardship (OUCH)
OUCH was started by Black Claw who handles the www.evebloggers.com portal. Although he has left the corp and is in fact, planning to leave EVE, his idea of creating an alliance dedicated to achieving excellence in small gang PvP still thrives. OUCH is the training arm of the Art Of War alliance that he helped build. Operating primarily out of the Curse NPC 0.0 region they have made a small name for themselves in one of the most competitive section of the EVE universe.
Getting into OUCH is as simple. They are willing to accept pretty much anyone. As their recruitment post says:
OUCH tries hard, they really seem to. When they started over a year ago my Agony corp-mates kind-of laughed at them figuring they would never last. Instead, they are still around and seem to graduate about 5 players a month. Characters first join up with the corp and then take classes. To get to 'Graduate' status several modules have to be completed covering a range of PvP topics. These modules are delivered in a group class format schedules around once or twice a week. Four group classes (about 9 hours of training total) are required to cover the whole curriculum. Reviewing the module names they cover the host of major topics to truly get started in EVE PvP. From fitting to tackling to using the d-scanner, core concepts are covered.
Module List:
UNIT ONE
1. Overview settings
2. EVE client ESC settings
3. EVE client interface
UNIT TWO
4. Bookmarking
5. D-Scan
UNIT THREE
6. Tackling
7. Weaponry
UNIT FOUR
8. Fleet Ops
9. Hunter/Prey
My new character managed to join OUCH without many questions. I created an account on their forum, read what I could and then waited for a class. Fellow corp-mates were friendly and helpful, answering any questions I had. Since I was doing missions during this period they were able to give me some advice about what ship to use and what skills to train for.
The forums provided me with a fit of ship to use in the lessons (AB Merlin since I was Caldari) and some information, however there did not seem to be any way of preparing for the classes ahead of time other then get a ship ready in system. The content of the courses is covered during the lessons rather then in reading material.
As a new pilot I had to fly with several restrictions, basically barring me from any PvP until I had completed the courses. During this time I was not allowed to:
1. Participate in any form of PvP,
2. Join any OUCH PvP Fleet,
3. Go to 0.0/low-sec,
4. Listen in on an active PvP fleet.
Pretty much I was left alone on the lounge channel of their teamspeak server while I ran a few missions and basically was left to my own devices, longing to join a fleet channel where people looked like they were having fun. I chatted with other students and they were similarly frustrated.
During the first 10 days no class corresponded to anything near my playtime and I was kicked for inactivity. Apparently there was a requirement of creating a student folder in the student folder forum. IOW, despite spending over an hour looking for information on their website I failed to RTFM, or in this case, read the f---ing acceptance mail. Since I left they have strengthened their documentation for new members to help them know what to do. In general lessons seemed to be more convenient for EU timezones, while some 'extra' lessons are scheduled outside of that time. I think that due to the x-mass holidays I hit at a bad time where people were taking a break and less lessons then normal were available. This is quite understandable as the amount of work and time that goes into providing these lessons.
I am not really sure if OUCH is the best place for a new character on a 14-day trial. While some of their graduates started as new, I feel that it would be very hard for a new player to have a meaningful PvP experience within the 14 day trial by going through OUCH.
OTOH if a player feels that EVE is really for them and wants to get into PvP, I think joining OUCH is an excellent idea. As long as they understand that it will take a bit of patience (and what in EVE doesn't take patience), and they can control their schedule enough to fit in the classes, they will have a real step up over other players. However it would usually take more than 14 days and, since the restrictions on students are so severe, it would be a pretty uneventful time until they achieve graduation, unless the lessons align perfectly with their play time.
I do think OUCH works best for a mission runner who wants to get into PvP. They can run missions/incursions/other empire stuff while waiting to take the classes.
Response From OUCH
I contacted OUCH with a draft of this post and received the following response:
Dear Toterra,
I have followed your blog a bit and I like most of what I read. I've no problems with your review of us, it's an honest opinion of your experience with the Open University of Celestial Hardship [0UCH].
In my opinion, 14 days is not enough time to really do anything with OUCH, and you probably caught us at the worst time, in December when the holidays were looming. Hopefully for someone joins us and doesn't get disallusioned with the admin of joining will want to stay in OUCH long enough to figure out if they really like Eve. I agree that OUCH is more suited to the carebear come PvP, but we have had many successful brand new players join and successfully finish our course. It requires four groups of modules to complete the course, 9 hours of training.
After the holiday, I made a post called "How to get Kicked out of OUCH" (a little tongue in cheek there) and linked it in our MoTD because we were concerened with all of the students joining and missing the big picture, or failing to actually participate. I think that if that had been in the MoTD when you joined, you might have read it and figured out you needed a Student Folder. It also explains some of the reason why we insist on new pilots showing a little patience with us as we do the same. I will mail it to you for your reference, but in a nutshell, we are not interested in being a huge corp with a bunch of people who want to hang out. We want people who want to be trained, or in the case of a permanent member, want to train others.
Because OUCH is an Open Corp, we make people wait to join us in PvP channel... there has to be some security for counter intelligence purposes... So basically if you havent gotten thru enough lessons to do PvP, you can't join us in the PvP channel. I admit that annoys me that people would rather sit in the AFK channel than hang in the lounge, but it is what it is.
Anyway, I am sorry that OUCH didn't meet your expectations. To be honest, I don't think there is any program out there that is going to fit your parameters. We try very hard to help out who we can, but we're grown up enough to know we can't please everyone. We are going to keep focused on what we do well and refine it as we can.
Respectfully,
Bren Genzan (CEO)
OUCH was started by Black Claw who handles the www.evebloggers.com portal. Although he has left the corp and is in fact, planning to leave EVE, his idea of creating an alliance dedicated to achieving excellence in small gang PvP still thrives. OUCH is the training arm of the Art Of War alliance that he helped build. Operating primarily out of the Curse NPC 0.0 region they have made a small name for themselves in one of the most competitive section of the EVE universe.
Getting into OUCH is as simple. They are willing to accept pretty much anyone. As their recruitment post says:
No pre-requisites are required to join OUCH. No minimum number of skill points, API checks, interviews, etc. We truly are an "open" training corporation. Our students have ranged from one day old trial accounts to players who were with Eve since Beta. We accept anyone with a pulse.
OUCH tries hard, they really seem to. When they started over a year ago my Agony corp-mates kind-of laughed at them figuring they would never last. Instead, they are still around and seem to graduate about 5 players a month. Characters first join up with the corp and then take classes. To get to 'Graduate' status several modules have to be completed covering a range of PvP topics. These modules are delivered in a group class format schedules around once or twice a week. Four group classes (about 9 hours of training total) are required to cover the whole curriculum. Reviewing the module names they cover the host of major topics to truly get started in EVE PvP. From fitting to tackling to using the d-scanner, core concepts are covered.
Module List:
UNIT ONE
1. Overview settings
2. EVE client ESC settings
3. EVE client interface
UNIT TWO
4. Bookmarking
5. D-Scan
UNIT THREE
6. Tackling
7. Weaponry
UNIT FOUR
8. Fleet Ops
9. Hunter/Prey
My new character managed to join OUCH without many questions. I created an account on their forum, read what I could and then waited for a class. Fellow corp-mates were friendly and helpful, answering any questions I had. Since I was doing missions during this period they were able to give me some advice about what ship to use and what skills to train for.
The forums provided me with a fit of ship to use in the lessons (AB Merlin since I was Caldari) and some information, however there did not seem to be any way of preparing for the classes ahead of time other then get a ship ready in system. The content of the courses is covered during the lessons rather then in reading material.
As a new pilot I had to fly with several restrictions, basically barring me from any PvP until I had completed the courses. During this time I was not allowed to:
1. Participate in any form of PvP,
2. Join any OUCH PvP Fleet,
3. Go to 0.0/low-sec,
4. Listen in on an active PvP fleet.
Pretty much I was left alone on the lounge channel of their teamspeak server while I ran a few missions and basically was left to my own devices, longing to join a fleet channel where people looked like they were having fun. I chatted with other students and they were similarly frustrated.
During the first 10 days no class corresponded to anything near my playtime and I was kicked for inactivity. Apparently there was a requirement of creating a student folder in the student folder forum. IOW, despite spending over an hour looking for information on their website I failed to RTFM, or in this case, read the f---ing acceptance mail. Since I left they have strengthened their documentation for new members to help them know what to do. In general lessons seemed to be more convenient for EU timezones, while some 'extra' lessons are scheduled outside of that time. I think that due to the x-mass holidays I hit at a bad time where people were taking a break and less lessons then normal were available. This is quite understandable as the amount of work and time that goes into providing these lessons.
I am not really sure if OUCH is the best place for a new character on a 14-day trial. While some of their graduates started as new, I feel that it would be very hard for a new player to have a meaningful PvP experience within the 14 day trial by going through OUCH.
OTOH if a player feels that EVE is really for them and wants to get into PvP, I think joining OUCH is an excellent idea. As long as they understand that it will take a bit of patience (and what in EVE doesn't take patience), and they can control their schedule enough to fit in the classes, they will have a real step up over other players. However it would usually take more than 14 days and, since the restrictions on students are so severe, it would be a pretty uneventful time until they achieve graduation, unless the lessons align perfectly with their play time.
I do think OUCH works best for a mission runner who wants to get into PvP. They can run missions/incursions/other empire stuff while waiting to take the classes.
Response From OUCH
I contacted OUCH with a draft of this post and received the following response:
Dear Toterra,
I have followed your blog a bit and I like most of what I read. I've no problems with your review of us, it's an honest opinion of your experience with the Open University of Celestial Hardship [0UCH].
In my opinion, 14 days is not enough time to really do anything with OUCH, and you probably caught us at the worst time, in December when the holidays were looming. Hopefully for someone joins us and doesn't get disallusioned with the admin of joining will want to stay in OUCH long enough to figure out if they really like Eve. I agree that OUCH is more suited to the carebear come PvP, but we have had many successful brand new players join and successfully finish our course. It requires four groups of modules to complete the course, 9 hours of training.
After the holiday, I made a post called "How to get Kicked out of OUCH" (a little tongue in cheek there) and linked it in our MoTD because we were concerened with all of the students joining and missing the big picture, or failing to actually participate. I think that if that had been in the MoTD when you joined, you might have read it and figured out you needed a Student Folder. It also explains some of the reason why we insist on new pilots showing a little patience with us as we do the same. I will mail it to you for your reference, but in a nutshell, we are not interested in being a huge corp with a bunch of people who want to hang out. We want people who want to be trained, or in the case of a permanent member, want to train others.
Because OUCH is an Open Corp, we make people wait to join us in PvP channel... there has to be some security for counter intelligence purposes... So basically if you havent gotten thru enough lessons to do PvP, you can't join us in the PvP channel. I admit that annoys me that people would rather sit in the AFK channel than hang in the lounge, but it is what it is.
Anyway, I am sorry that OUCH didn't meet your expectations. To be honest, I don't think there is any program out there that is going to fit your parameters. We try very hard to help out who we can, but we're grown up enough to know we can't please everyone. We are going to keep focused on what we do well and refine it as we can.
Respectfully,
Bren Genzan (CEO)
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Taranis 2.1
So I fit up another Taranis like the first. This time I wasn't going to be a tard fly it properly. The only change I made to the fitting was instead of hobgoblin IIs I went with 2 light ECM drones. Since I am pushing well over 200 dps with my blasters, the 30 dps or so from the drones is not going to make near as much of a difference as jamming the enemy ship would. At least that is the plan.
Again I left Jita and ended up in that hole of a system called Amamake. Amamake is basically a frigate PvP paradise. Show up in a frigate and if you can't get a fight... you are doing it wrong.
The Hunt
After chasing a few things another Taranis with the name of 'Taranis vs' showed up on scan. I found it sitting on a station. After staring at it for a minute or two (I couldn't shoot it since he his sec status was only -1.1, I headed to a faction war plex and waited for him to follow. About a minute after landing, I was about to give up when he suddenly appeared on grid. As soon as I managed to lock him I opened fire and launched my drones. I lost about 3 seconds to the pop up notification warning me that this was a dangerous action, but I still managed to get my first shot off 4 seconds before him. Overloading my NOS and my repper, I quickly burnt through his shields and armour. He did the same to me. I overloaded my guns and finally he went down as I was in 22% structure. My drones never landed a jam.
GFs in local and a quick chat afterwards. He was a bit perplexed as this was his anti Taranis fit. However he did admit to a serious error. As he landed on me he hesitated before locking me as I had a positive sec status and wasn't sure if I was going to light him up. Never land on a target in low-sec or 0.0 and then start pondering if you want the fight or not. He was committed when he warped after me. Pausing may have cost him the fight.
All in all I was please with my tactics here. There were couple of things I could have done better though.
1. Overload guns from the start
2. I mashed locking him up as he was warping in over and over. Sometimes it seems that when you fail to lock so many times there is a delay as you flood the network with messages. I think I could have locked him a second or two earlier if I was less aggressive.
3. Turn off the damned criminal act notification.
2012.01.13 22:34:00
Victim: panteknicon
Corp: Tribal Liberation Force
Alliance: Unknown
Faction: Minmatar Republic
Destroyed: Taranis
System: Amamake
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 2675
Involved parties:
Name: Toterra (laid the final blow)
Security: 0.00
Corp: Walking Dead Pilots
Alliance: None
Faction: None
Ship: Taranis
Weapon: Light Neutron Blaster II
Damage Done: 2675
Destroyed items:
Light Electron Blaster II
Small Trimark Armor Pump I, Qty: 2
Small 'Accommodation' Vestment Reconstructer I
Federation Navy Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 506 (Cargo)
Federation Navy Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 270
Warp Scrambler II
100mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Stasis Webifier II
Small 'Knave' Energy Drain
Dropped items:
1MN Afterburner II
Light Electron Blaster II, Qty: 2
Federation Navy Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 135
Damage Control II
Again I left Jita and ended up in that hole of a system called Amamake. Amamake is basically a frigate PvP paradise. Show up in a frigate and if you can't get a fight... you are doing it wrong.
The Hunt
After chasing a few things another Taranis with the name of 'Taranis vs' showed up on scan. I found it sitting on a station. After staring at it for a minute or two (I couldn't shoot it since he his sec status was only -1.1, I headed to a faction war plex and waited for him to follow. About a minute after landing, I was about to give up when he suddenly appeared on grid. As soon as I managed to lock him I opened fire and launched my drones. I lost about 3 seconds to the pop up notification warning me that this was a dangerous action, but I still managed to get my first shot off 4 seconds before him. Overloading my NOS and my repper, I quickly burnt through his shields and armour. He did the same to me. I overloaded my guns and finally he went down as I was in 22% structure. My drones never landed a jam.
GFs in local and a quick chat afterwards. He was a bit perplexed as this was his anti Taranis fit. However he did admit to a serious error. As he landed on me he hesitated before locking me as I had a positive sec status and wasn't sure if I was going to light him up. Never land on a target in low-sec or 0.0 and then start pondering if you want the fight or not. He was committed when he warped after me. Pausing may have cost him the fight.
All in all I was please with my tactics here. There were couple of things I could have done better though.
1. Overload guns from the start
2. I mashed locking him up as he was warping in over and over. Sometimes it seems that when you fail to lock so many times there is a delay as you flood the network with messages. I think I could have locked him a second or two earlier if I was less aggressive.
3. Turn off the damned criminal act notification.
2012.01.13 22:34:00
Victim: panteknicon
Corp: Tribal Liberation Force
Alliance: Unknown
Faction: Minmatar Republic
Destroyed: Taranis
System: Amamake
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 2675
Involved parties:
Name: Toterra (laid the final blow)
Security: 0.00
Corp: Walking Dead Pilots
Alliance: None
Faction: None
Ship: Taranis
Weapon: Light Neutron Blaster II
Damage Done: 2675
Destroyed items:
Light Electron Blaster II
Small Trimark Armor Pump I, Qty: 2
Small 'Accommodation' Vestment Reconstructer I
Federation Navy Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 506 (Cargo)
Federation Navy Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 270
Warp Scrambler II
100mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Stasis Webifier II
Small 'Knave' Energy Drain
Dropped items:
1MN Afterburner II
Light Electron Blaster II, Qty: 2
Federation Navy Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 135
Damage Control II
Friday, January 13, 2012
Taranis 1
One of my favourite blog series is the Punisher Plan from Flight of Dragons. In it gets into PvP by flying and loosing 20 Punishers (t1 Frigate). I consider it to be a perfect example of how new players should approach PvP in EVE.
At the same time I have always respected the Taranis. There was a pilot in Agony who flew them frequently and had a ridiculous amount of solo success with it, including a spectacular 1v1 with a Vagabond in which he was victorious. I have flown the ship a few times with much less success. To that end I have decided to follow the Taranis plan and fly with and loose 20 Taranises.
The Fit
[Taranis, Taranis 1]
Light Neutron Blaster II, Federation Navy Antimatter Charge S
Light Neutron Blaster II, Federation Navy Antimatter Charge S
Light Neutron Blaster II, Federation Navy Antimatter Charge S
Small Diminishing Power System Drain I
1MN Afterburner II
'Langour' Drive Disruptor I
Initiated Harmonic Warp Scrambler I
Small Armor Repairer II
Damage Control II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Small Ancillary Current Router I
Small Ancillary Current Router I
Hobgoblin II x2
note: I was only able to fit this thanks to a 3% powergrid implant
This fit was a modified version of the fit used by that storied Agony pilot. Hull tanking for the win, with an active armour tank for good measure. Changes with the Crucible patch have allowed me to fit more DPS then he used to be able to.
The Hunt
Leaving Jita I roamed through low-sec looking for targets of opportunity. I almost landed on a fight between a Jag and another ship, but I was not fast enough on the d-scan. Going further I set the destination to Hevrice, home of the Tuskers, hoping to find a comparable ship to engage. After not really seeing many possible targets I arrived. At first I chased a Rifter around, but again I was slow on the D-Scan so he was never in danger (note to self, practice d-scan). However a Tusker Federation Navy Comet wanted to play so we were soon in battle.
At this point I turned into a noob to end all noobs. I made so many mistakes in the fight I embarrass myself.
1. I had an opportunity to engage near a station's gate guns. This would have allowed me to make the first shot since my opponent would have had to wait for me to aggress. Instead I found some celestial for the fight.
2. Federation Navy Comet != Caldari Navy Hookbill. For some reason I always get the two confused.
3. A Taranis is not a shield tanked ship. For some reason when my shields were obliterated by the first shot... I started to panic.
4. Turn on the AB. I thought I activated it... but when I checked it near the end it didn't seem to be on though.
5. Should have brought Null. My plan was to engage in deep falloff for antimatter. Good plan if I was using Null. Bad plan otherwise.
6. Check pilot on battleclinic. The enemy had just lost the same ship type recently. I should have checked her fit first to see that she had ambit extension rigs... engaging at range = bad.
7. Don't experiment with keyboard shortcuts when doing frig 1v1. For some reason I remembered that there was a keyboard shortcut for orbit. I held the 'T' key down and selected the ship. Duh! It is the 'W' key for orbit.
8. 23 seconds before my drones got into the action. I must have never assigned them.
At least I remembered to get my pod out.
All in all it was a completely fail fight. The Comet is a tough ship that probably would have won regardless, however I at least hoped to crack the ships shields.
Anyways, with a gf in local I logged in station for the night. My taranis will be back :D Probably with a bit of a different fit though.
2012.01.12 05:31:00
Victim: Toterra
Corp: Walking Dead Pilots
Alliance: Unknown
Faction: Unknown
Destroyed: Taranis
System: Hevrice
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 1824
Involved parties:
Name: Maia Demoncast (laid the final blow)
Security: -9.60
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: None
Faction: None
Ship: Federation Navy Comet
Weapon: Light Neutron Blaster II
Damage Done: 1824
Destroyed items:
1MN Afterburner II
Small Diminishing Power System Drain I
Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 72
Small Armor Repairer II
X5 Prototype Engine Enervator
Light Neutron Blaster II, Qty: 2
Small Ancillary Current Router I, Qty: 2
Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 760 (Cargo)
Dropped items:
Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 144
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
Damage Control II
Light Neutron Blaster II
At the same time I have always respected the Taranis. There was a pilot in Agony who flew them frequently and had a ridiculous amount of solo success with it, including a spectacular 1v1 with a Vagabond in which he was victorious. I have flown the ship a few times with much less success. To that end I have decided to follow the Taranis plan and fly with and loose 20 Taranises.
The Fit
[Taranis, Taranis 1]
Light Neutron Blaster II, Federation Navy Antimatter Charge S
Light Neutron Blaster II, Federation Navy Antimatter Charge S
Light Neutron Blaster II, Federation Navy Antimatter Charge S
Small Diminishing Power System Drain I
1MN Afterburner II
'Langour' Drive Disruptor I
Initiated Harmonic Warp Scrambler I
Small Armor Repairer II
Damage Control II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Small Ancillary Current Router I
Small Ancillary Current Router I
Hobgoblin II x2
note: I was only able to fit this thanks to a 3% powergrid implant
This fit was a modified version of the fit used by that storied Agony pilot. Hull tanking for the win, with an active armour tank for good measure. Changes with the Crucible patch have allowed me to fit more DPS then he used to be able to.
The Hunt
Leaving Jita I roamed through low-sec looking for targets of opportunity. I almost landed on a fight between a Jag and another ship, but I was not fast enough on the d-scan. Going further I set the destination to Hevrice, home of the Tuskers, hoping to find a comparable ship to engage. After not really seeing many possible targets I arrived. At first I chased a Rifter around, but again I was slow on the D-Scan so he was never in danger (note to self, practice d-scan). However a Tusker Federation Navy Comet wanted to play so we were soon in battle.
At this point I turned into a noob to end all noobs. I made so many mistakes in the fight I embarrass myself.
1. I had an opportunity to engage near a station's gate guns. This would have allowed me to make the first shot since my opponent would have had to wait for me to aggress. Instead I found some celestial for the fight.
2. Federation Navy Comet != Caldari Navy Hookbill. For some reason I always get the two confused.
3. A Taranis is not a shield tanked ship. For some reason when my shields were obliterated by the first shot... I started to panic.
4. Turn on the AB. I thought I activated it... but when I checked it near the end it didn't seem to be on though.
5. Should have brought Null. My plan was to engage in deep falloff for antimatter. Good plan if I was using Null. Bad plan otherwise.
6. Check pilot on battleclinic. The enemy had just lost the same ship type recently. I should have checked her fit first to see that she had ambit extension rigs... engaging at range = bad.
7. Don't experiment with keyboard shortcuts when doing frig 1v1. For some reason I remembered that there was a keyboard shortcut for orbit. I held the 'T' key down and selected the ship. Duh! It is the 'W' key for orbit.
8. 23 seconds before my drones got into the action. I must have never assigned them.
At least I remembered to get my pod out.
All in all it was a completely fail fight. The Comet is a tough ship that probably would have won regardless, however I at least hoped to crack the ships shields.
Anyways, with a gf in local I logged in station for the night. My taranis will be back :D Probably with a bit of a different fit though.
2012.01.12 05:31:00
Victim: Toterra
Corp: Walking Dead Pilots
Alliance: Unknown
Faction: Unknown
Destroyed: Taranis
System: Hevrice
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 1824
Involved parties:
Name: Maia Demoncast (laid the final blow)
Security: -9.60
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: None
Faction: None
Ship: Federation Navy Comet
Weapon: Light Neutron Blaster II
Damage Done: 1824
Destroyed items:
1MN Afterburner II
Small Diminishing Power System Drain I
Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 72
Small Armor Repairer II
X5 Prototype Engine Enervator
Light Neutron Blaster II, Qty: 2
Small Ancillary Current Router I, Qty: 2
Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 760 (Cargo)
Dropped items:
Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 144
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
Damage Control II
Light Neutron Blaster II
Thursday, January 12, 2012
The Current Sad State of EVE-Online Noob PvP Training - Part 2
Fortunately for EVE there is a large player community that tries to help out. There are three so called 'Universities' that attempt to teach PvP to new players in a structured manner. These organizations are filled with volunteers who put enormous effort into helping teach new players how to PvP in EVE.
Some large Alliances (Goonswarm and Test come to mind) will accept new players if they meet certain out of game requirements and try to mold them into cannon fodder for their FCs. IMHO being cannon fodder (another alpha Maelstrom) is hardly PvP.
As for the other smaller corps that are spamming the recruitment channel or otherwise talking to new players promising PvP training, it is very much hit or miss. Some will provide a helping hand, others fail to do so. Some are even just out to scam. I would be surprised if evem 10% of noob recruits end up finding real help. The rest just get frustrated and quit the game.
That really leaves the three PvP universities as the only reliable hope for organized PvP training. To look at these options I created a new trial account with the 60-day key given out by CCP and tried to see how well these would work. I 'pretended' to be a noob knowing absolutely nothing (note: I used to be in Agony so didn't try there, went off memory). I will talk about this on my next post. The main question I wanted to know was... Was it possible for a new player to have a positive PvP training experience within the 14-day trial?
Some large Alliances (Goonswarm and Test come to mind) will accept new players if they meet certain out of game requirements and try to mold them into cannon fodder for their FCs. IMHO being cannon fodder (another alpha Maelstrom) is hardly PvP.
As for the other smaller corps that are spamming the recruitment channel or otherwise talking to new players promising PvP training, it is very much hit or miss. Some will provide a helping hand, others fail to do so. Some are even just out to scam. I would be surprised if evem 10% of noob recruits end up finding real help. The rest just get frustrated and quit the game.
That really leaves the three PvP universities as the only reliable hope for organized PvP training. To look at these options I created a new trial account with the 60-day key given out by CCP and tried to see how well these would work. I 'pretended' to be a noob knowing absolutely nothing (note: I used to be in Agony so didn't try there, went off memory). I will talk about this on my next post. The main question I wanted to know was... Was it possible for a new player to have a positive PvP training experience within the 14-day trial?
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Stop the Assault Ship Changes.... Rethink Frigate Fleets Instead
I personally love Assault Ships. The Jaguar is by far my favorite ship to fly. I also love the Wolf, the Enyo, the Ishkur, the Hawk and the Vengeance. Assault ships are just fantastic ships for having fun in. Unlike interceptors they can withstand a beating, yet they are still fast enough to dodge a gate camp. DPS is just enough higher then their T1 counterparts to actually be effective against things like cruisers, yet they have their own special niche.
You would think I would be happy with the proposed changes to the ship class.... well I am not. Lets look at the change to the Jaguar since it is a perfect example of fixing something that doesn't need fixing.
* Added bonus: 7.5% bonus to Small Projectile Turret Tracking per level
* +1 low slot
* Added role bonus: 50% reduction in MicroWarpdrive signature radius penalty
The low slot is kindof a silly catch all change. It can make the ship faster, more agile, give it more power-grid or more CPU. Think of it as a +10% bonus to whatever you want. Lots of people hate the MWD bonus (although I am probably the only one who likes the 50% reduction in MWD penalty as it makes the ships now able to dodge gate-camps in 0.0 much better). The tracking rate bonus however is what I truly hate. The main weakness of the Jaguar and the Wolf is the lack of a tracking bonus. This means that an enemy pilot, in an interceptor or T1 frigate, can, with a lot of effort and hope, get under 200mm autocannons. IOW the lack of a tracking bonus gives other frigates a chance. By adding the tracking bonus this is now gone. You see these sort of changes throughout the whole lineup. Ishkur has lots of DPS in drones that need to be popped if you engage..... they now are much tougher to pop. The Hawk / Vengeance can tank like a SOB, but lousy damage... now they have great damage as well. I much prefer solo-pvp ships to have both strengths and weaknesses that need to be understood, rather then just making them all round better. Think stealth bombers... hopelessly overpowered in some ways, but so gimped in other ways that they add to the game instead of ruining it.
What I wish the game designers at CCP would do is consider the whole class of T2 frigates and come up with a consistent strategy for a frigate fleet. Imagine if each race had an assault ship with a command ship like bonus. The bonus would only work on grid and only against destroyers or smaller. Give the other side a logistic bonus, the bonuses to remote rep each other, and other frigates. Fix EAF so that they are more survivable and uselfull. Give frigates, and destroyers, a warfare objective that they can do better then larger fleets. Add a non-cloaky bomber type ship that can, in a small group, make short work of customs offices or something. But they need to be protected by flying with the harder hitting, bonus giving, repping assault ships. This would make roving gangs of small ships not only viable, but crucial to the game out in 0.0 and low-sec.
Doing this would make the game both more fun, and more accessible to new players. Having these low barrier to entry fleets would be a huge boon to the game.
You would think I would be happy with the proposed changes to the ship class.... well I am not. Lets look at the change to the Jaguar since it is a perfect example of fixing something that doesn't need fixing.
* Added bonus: 7.5% bonus to Small Projectile Turret Tracking per level
* +1 low slot
* Added role bonus: 50% reduction in MicroWarpdrive signature radius penalty
The low slot is kindof a silly catch all change. It can make the ship faster, more agile, give it more power-grid or more CPU. Think of it as a +10% bonus to whatever you want. Lots of people hate the MWD bonus (although I am probably the only one who likes the 50% reduction in MWD penalty as it makes the ships now able to dodge gate-camps in 0.0 much better). The tracking rate bonus however is what I truly hate. The main weakness of the Jaguar and the Wolf is the lack of a tracking bonus. This means that an enemy pilot, in an interceptor or T1 frigate, can, with a lot of effort and hope, get under 200mm autocannons. IOW the lack of a tracking bonus gives other frigates a chance. By adding the tracking bonus this is now gone. You see these sort of changes throughout the whole lineup. Ishkur has lots of DPS in drones that need to be popped if you engage..... they now are much tougher to pop. The Hawk / Vengeance can tank like a SOB, but lousy damage... now they have great damage as well. I much prefer solo-pvp ships to have both strengths and weaknesses that need to be understood, rather then just making them all round better. Think stealth bombers... hopelessly overpowered in some ways, but so gimped in other ways that they add to the game instead of ruining it.
What I wish the game designers at CCP would do is consider the whole class of T2 frigates and come up with a consistent strategy for a frigate fleet. Imagine if each race had an assault ship with a command ship like bonus. The bonus would only work on grid and only against destroyers or smaller. Give the other side a logistic bonus, the bonuses to remote rep each other, and other frigates. Fix EAF so that they are more survivable and uselfull. Give frigates, and destroyers, a warfare objective that they can do better then larger fleets. Add a non-cloaky bomber type ship that can, in a small group, make short work of customs offices or something. But they need to be protected by flying with the harder hitting, bonus giving, repping assault ships. This would make roving gangs of small ships not only viable, but crucial to the game out in 0.0 and low-sec.
Doing this would make the game both more fun, and more accessible to new players. Having these low barrier to entry fleets would be a huge boon to the game.
Monday, January 9, 2012
The Current Sad State of EVE-Online Noob PvP Training - Part 1
One of the reasons that I started this blog was to provide a resource and some inspiration for new players to learn to PvP. At the time there seemed to be a dearth of PvP blogs. Wensley's Rifter Drifter being the best of the few regularly updated PvP blogs with useful information for new players. Since I started the situation has improved significantly. Azual's Blog, The FNG, Flight of Dragons, etc. are all great resources. However it is not really enough. EVE is a PvP game. Players start playing EVE primarily because they want to get involved in the great PvP game. Yes some players come to EVE to play WOW in space, but they are usually transitory and only stay if they are somehow connected to the great PvP game.
To that end it would be ideal if new players to EVE could get up to speed on how PvP works quickly and easily. It would be ideal if most new players withing the trial period get a chance to experience the heart-stopping thrill of the first PvP engagement and kill. Instead this is nearly impossible and it is getting worse (it is getting harder and harder for a T1 frigate to survive and kill anything). The military and advanced military tutorials are pretty much useless. They introduce how to click the weapons/ewar and fire at a target, and that is about it. New players have to navigate a bunch of complex, contradictory and needlessly confusing rules about who can attack whom and where. For example just think of the overview. Even the EVE developers don't seem to understand the rules as they often release features that are broken due to aggression rules. See Incursion.
The problem is that new players have 14 days to decide that EVE is the game for them. If they never experience a PvP engagement during that time where they understand what is happening, how exactly are they supposed to figure it out.
To that end it would be ideal if new players to EVE could get up to speed on how PvP works quickly and easily. It would be ideal if most new players withing the trial period get a chance to experience the heart-stopping thrill of the first PvP engagement and kill. Instead this is nearly impossible and it is getting worse (it is getting harder and harder for a T1 frigate to survive and kill anything). The military and advanced military tutorials are pretty much useless. They introduce how to click the weapons/ewar and fire at a target, and that is about it. New players have to navigate a bunch of complex, contradictory and needlessly confusing rules about who can attack whom and where. For example just think of the overview. Even the EVE developers don't seem to understand the rules as they often release features that are broken due to aggression rules. See Incursion.
The problem is that new players have 14 days to decide that EVE is the game for them. If they never experience a PvP engagement during that time where they understand what is happening, how exactly are they supposed to figure it out.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Navy Faction Ship Prices - Side Effect of Incursions
One of the rewards of doing incusion sites, aside from the ISK, is the LP rewards. As I understand it (never actually done an incursion) you get LP that can be cashed in at any of the empire faction LP stores. This has had many side affects. For me the most notable was the complete mess it made of Faction Ammo pricing that I had been using with my trader alt as my main source of money. With much greater supply, prices for faction ammo stabilized :(. My profits were no more.
Another effect has been the price of navy faction ships. Let's look at the frigate prices
Amazingly these prices put these ships that used to cost more than Assault ships a couple of years ago, down to interceptor prices. The Imperial Navy Slicer is probably the most remarkable of these ships. A super fast ammar frigate that can kite pretty much anything, and thanks to scorch, do significant damage outside of scram range.
The trend is less consistent but still present for cruisers as well. A Stabber Fleet Issue which cost 85 million last January, costs 67 million today. That is about half the price of a Vagabond. Quite amazing.
Another effect has been the price of navy faction ships. Let's look at the frigate prices
| Ship Name | Jan 4, 2011 | Jan 4, 2012 |
| Caldari Navy Hookbill | 24,012,553.27 | 15,700,697.99 |
| Federation Navy Comet | 27,193,650.91 | 15,516,003.00 |
| Republic Fleet Firetail | 21,610,796.00 | 14,399,998.99 |
| Imperial Navy Slicer | 22,083,122.56 | 12,510,001.07 |
Amazingly these prices put these ships that used to cost more than Assault ships a couple of years ago, down to interceptor prices. The Imperial Navy Slicer is probably the most remarkable of these ships. A super fast ammar frigate that can kite pretty much anything, and thanks to scorch, do significant damage outside of scram range.
The trend is less consistent but still present for cruisers as well. A Stabber Fleet Issue which cost 85 million last January, costs 67 million today. That is about half the price of a Vagabond. Quite amazing.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
POD-ageddon X-Mass - AND THE WINNER IS
Congrats to ThePod Express for his victory. He posted over 3.6 Billion ISK worth of implants. Here is a post from him commenting on his activities :). Great going. As a reward he has requested a Vigilant cruiser. Although he might have some difficulty getting it out of Jita considering his -10.0 sec status.
Anyways, I plan on running this contest again next (this) year. So pods out there beware... 355 days to the next POD-ageddon.
Anyways, I plan on running this contest again next (this) year. So pods out there beware... 355 days to the next POD-ageddon.
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